'We now have the opportunity to reset the culture of Bury council and move forward with a new leadership team'

The investigation concluded that the former Chief Executive and former Director of Children's Services failed to follow Child Safeguarding procedures following the arrest of former Councillor Simon Carter for possessing indecent images of children back in April 2015.

No child was harmed as a result of the failure and by September 2015 Carter was convicted and sentenced for possessing images of child pornography but that does not excuse the fact that the most important procedures that the council has in place, those related to the safeguarding of children, were ignored.

Bury has not endured the serious difficulties of other areas when it comes to child protection and I am determined to keep it that way. Bury Council’s last OFSTED inspection in 2016 gave those services relating to the safeguarding of children a ‘good’ rating. Childcare expert Malcolm Newson CBE who investigated this matter stated that childcare professionals in Bury were ‘impressive’ in his report. The things that went wrong were based on individual failures and my actions in calling for an investigation demonstrate that Bury Council takes a zero tolerance approach to any breaches of Child Safeguarding procedures and those responsible, no matter how senior in the council, will be held to account.

I would like to put on record my thanks to Conservative Councillor Roy Walker and Lib Dem Leader Councillor Tim Pickstone for their kind words during the debate in which they commended my decision to call for the investigation and for the openness and transparency that I have shown. It has not been easy, but the council will learn from the mistakes that have been made and all those involved will be held to account. We now have the opportunity to reset the culture of this council and move forward with a new leadership team to face the challenges ahead.

Councillor Rishi Shori

Leader of Bury Metropolitan Borough Council